We've seen a domino effect in the Mideast as protests in Tunisia sparked the continued unrest in Egypt. Over the past week opposition activists in Syria have gathered in small groups to pay homage to the protestors in Egypt, while a Facebook group, run mostly by Syrian expatriates, is trying to organize a "Day of Rage" in that country.

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma says if protesters do show up, we're likely to see a very different story in Syria. And Syrian Americans, like Munif Atassi, the president of the Syran American Club in Washington, D.C. are skeptical the movement will get off the ground.

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Charles

"listener" makes an excellent point. I have one very minor correction for "listener," howver. The liberated Iraq or 2011 is not the only mideast nation-state in which elections are free and fair and respected. The other nation-state which can boast of a free press, open politics and fair elections is Israel.

And ironically, the Obama Administration's State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton has also certified at least one other middle eastern country hosting free and fair elections; that country was Egypt.

It may indeed be a good thing if we see a renaissance of freedom and democracy in the Arab middle east. Let's hope that the revolution spreads to Syria, to Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon and Gaza, to the Hamas-dominated Palestinian territories, and most all, to the theocratic junta in Iran.

All dictators are "highly liked" until their not. The fact that a tyrant is anti-American and anti-Israel makes all the positive difference to the Arab world, the leftists and the media. A prison is also an "island of stability" and that prison is funded by Iran. Both nations contributed to the "chaos" in Iraq which the US has guided it to be the one nation in the Middle-East where elections are respected and honored.